Ramtha (a.k.a. JZ Knight)

"If I waited on nobody but Ramtha people all day, my life would be a lot happier." --Rita, a waitress at Jennee's in Yelm*

Ramtha is a 35,000 year-old spirit-warrior who appeared in
JZ Knight’s
kitchen in Tacoma, Washington, in 1977. Knight claims that she is Ramtha’s channel.
She also owns the copyright to Ramtha and conducts sessions in which she
pretends to go into a trance and speaks Hollywood’s version of
Elizabethan English in a guttural, husky voice. According to
Wikipedia, the "Z"
stands for Zebra, and Knight was born Judith Darlene Hampton on March 16,
1946, in Roswell, New Mexico.

She has thousands of
followers and has made millions of dollars performing as Ramtha at seminars
($1,000 a crack) and at her Ramtha School of Enlightenment, and from the
sales of tapes, books, and accessories (Clark and Gallo 1993). She must have
hypnotic powers. Searching for self-fulfillment, otherwise normal people
obey her command to spend hours blindfolded in a cold, muddy, doorless maze.
In the dark, they seek what Ramtha calls the ‘void at the center.’

Knight says she used to be “spiritually restless,” but not any more.
Ramtha from Atlantis via Lemuria has
enlightened her. He first appeared to her, she says, while she was in
business school having extraordinary experiences with UFOs.
She must have a great rapport with her spirit companion, since he shows up
whenever she needs him to put on a performance. It is not clear why
Ramtha would choose Knight, but it is very clear why Knight would choose
Ramtha: fame and fortune, or simple delusion.

Knight claims to believe that she's lived many lives. If so, one wonders what she needs
Ramtha for: she's been there, done that, herself, in past lives. She ought to be able to
speak for herself after so many reincarnations.

Knight claims that spirit or consciousness can "design thoughts" which
can be "absorbed" by the brain and constructed "holographically".
These thoughts can affect your life. If this means what I think it means, then
Knight
has taken the notion of proving the obvious to new heights: she has discovered that one's
thoughts can affect one's life.

Knight has rewritten not only the book on neurology, she has also rewritten the book on
archaeology and history. The world was not at all like the scholars of the world say it
was 35,000 years ago. We were not primitive hunters and gatherers who liked to paint in
caves. No, there were very advanced civilizations around then. It doesn't matter that
there is no evidence for this, because Knight has rewritten the book of evidence as well.
Evidence is what appears to you, even in visions and hallucinations and delusions.
Evidence is anything you feel like making up. So, when you are told
that Ramtha came first from Lemuria in the Pacific Ocean, do not seek out scholars to help
you understand that ancient civilization because the scholars of the world do not believe
Lemuria existed except as a fantasy. When you are told that Ramtha led an army of 2,500,000 warriors into battle even though that number exceeds the number of adult males 35,000 years ago, do not seek out scholars to help you understand this fantasy. When you are told that the Lemurians were a great
civilization from the time of the dinosaurs, do not expect to be burdened with evidence.
There isn't any evidence. The only mammals around at the time of the dinosaurs were
primitive and non-hominid, very much like lemurs. Maybe the Lemurians were really lemurs.
No, the Lemurians came from "beyond the North star," according to
Knight, which may explain why
all humans ever since have looked to the sky with longing.

But as cool as Lemuria was, it could not compare with its counterpart in the Atlantic
Ocean. Knight's story of Ramtha in Atlantis is too bizarre to retell. Let's just say that Ramtha was a
warrior who appeared to Edgar Cayce and leave it at that. Her
story is appealing to those who are not comfortable in today's world. The past
must have
been better. It must have been safer then, and people must have been
nobler. This
message is especially appealing to people who feel like misfits.

Ramtha, like Jesus,
is said to have ascended into heaven, after his many conquests, including the
conquest of himself. He said he'd be back and he kept his promise by coming to Knight in
1977 while she was in her pyramidiot phase. She put a toy pyramid on her head and lo
and behold if that wasn't a signal for Ramtha to return to the land of the living
dead:

And he looked at me and he said: "Beloved woman, I am Ramtha the Enlightened
One, and I have come to help you over the ditch" And, well, what would you do? I
didn't understand because I am a simple person so I looked to see if the floor was still
underneath the chair. And he said: "It is called the ditch of limitation", and
he said: "And I am here, and we are going to do a grand work together."*

Apparently, the first rule of the wise is: beware the ditch of
limitation.
Knight's husband-to-be must have fallen into the ditch. He was there at the time
Ramtha first invaded his girlfriend's body, but he was so busy
lining up pyramids with a compass that he didn't see Ramtha. He did feel The
Enlightened One's magnetic
charm, however; for, according to Knight (and who wouldn't believe her?), the compass
needle was spinning around madly and they saw
"ionization" in the kitchen air.

Ramtha then became Knight's personal tutor for two years, teaching her
everything from theology to quantum mechanics. He taught her how to have out-of-body
experiences. The experience was so extraordinary she had to dig very deep for a
metaphor to try to convey the bliss she felt: "I felt like....like a fish in the
ocean."

Her big break came when her son, Brandy, developed "an allergic reaction to
life." He had to have a few shots but he was allergic to the allergy shots.
Fortunately, "the Ram" (as Knight calls her spirit invader) came to the rescue
and taught her therapeutic touch. She healed Brandy with
prayer and
her touch "in less than a minute," greatly reducing her medical bills. She had
performed a miracle and now nothing would stop her from entering the public arena.

Ramtha the feminist

Perhaps the reason JZ Knight is so successful in getting
followers and students is that Ramtha is a feminist. He recognized that if
he appeared in his own masculine body, he would perpetuate the myth that gods are male
and further contribute to the eternal abuse of women.

That's what he said. So women have been abused by men, and herded by men through
religion to perform according to those religious doctrines, and in fact, women were
despised by Jehovah. So, he said: "It is important that when the teachings come
through, they come through the body of a woman."*

This feminization of gods must be pleasing to people who are tired of
masculine divinities. According to Knight, Ramtha will help people master
their humanity and “open our minds to new frontiers of potential.”

JZ gets her last
name from the first man she married, Jeff Knight, who did not leave this planet
with much good to say about his ex-bride, as evidenced by this 1992
interview. Jeff and Judy started out as horse breeders. Jeff Knight died of AIDS in 1994. Since that time JZ has been married five more times.

Knight's compound outside the town of Yelm has been built over the former horse-breeding grounds:

The estate consists of JZ's present home, a white 12,800 square foot French chateau styled 4-bedroom house, her original home (a 1,600 sq. ft. house now used as offices), the Great Hall (a converted 15,375 sq. ft. indoor riding arena once used for horse training which was refurbished and floored with Astroturf and seats 1,000 people), and the adjoining barn (now used almost entirely for offices), a former stallion pen (now housing an on-location bookstore used during events) as well as several other outbuildings. In recent years, Ms. Knight also bought the two adjoining parcels in order to ensure safety and privacy for attendees of the events.*

The Ranch, as her estate is called, is located east of Olympia on State Route 510. Knight has a store in town called JZ Rose and an online store as well. The stores sell many items not related to Ramtha. Although Knight is clearly good for many business in Yelm, not all the locals are happy with the Ramsters, as her followers are called:

....to counter the surge in Ramster followers, churches of more traditional faiths are springing up all over the area, so a virtual spiritual war is taking place in the little, formerly sleepy town of Yelm. You can see this played out everywhere. In the town’s only movie theater there are ads before the films for Christian schools and church programs that follow ads about hair stylists who have the Ramster symbol on their ad, subtly in the corner but a clear signal to fellow Ramsters to get their hair cut at the Ramster salon rather than other salons.

the teachings

the concept that consciousness and energy creates [sic] the nature of reality;

the challenge to conquer yourself.

The first statement is ubiquitous in the New Age literature and owes its origin to the mystical notion that all is one. The second and fourth are banal commonplaces, and the third is the basis of the New Thought movement of the 19th century that has been resurrected many times in various positive-thinking movements such as The Secret.

Despite the fact that there's nothing new or profound in Ramtha's teaching, there are many people for whom these ideas are new and exciting or at least obscure enough to awaken them from their suicidal or world-weary doldrums. One of Knight's former bodyguards, Glen Cunningham, has explained how his ex-wife was diverted from suicidal thoughts by listening to Ramtha audio tapes. Cunningham also described how he used Ramtha's teachings to lift the spirits of his son's teenage friends when they were going through hard times. Cunningham knew that the teachings were lifted from other sources, but the messages were useful even if they didn't originate from a 35,000-year-old Cro-Magnon warrior. Cunningham also claims to have lifted the spirts of several of Knight's followers by telling them that Knight had said something positive about them even though she probably didn't even know who they were.

The Cunningham interviews are available from Wide Eye Cinema.

Knight has sued several people, but so far she has only sued those who have tried to copy her shtick. When Judith Ravell of Berlin started chanelling Ramtha, Knight sued and won. Ravell was ordered to stop claiming she was in contact with Ramtha and to pay Knight $800.*

Knight seems to ignore critics, probably realizing that followers will come to her no matter what her critics say. However banal or platitudinous her messages, they resonate with many people who are unhappy or bored with their lives. And many of these seekers have cash in hand.

Like Richard Bandler, Knight has a fondness for trademarking words or expressions. Knight, however, trademarks many items that are not unique to her teaching. Ramtha®, C&E®, Consciousness & Energy®, Fieldwork®, The Tank®,
Blue Body®, Twilight®, Torsion ProcessSM, Neighborhood Walk,SM,
The GridSM, Create Your DaySM, Become a Remarkable Life®,
Mind As MatterSM, Analogical ArcherySM, and GladysSM are trademarks and service marks of JZ Knight. And don't you forget it.

Clark, Nancy, and Nick Gallo. "Do You Believe in Magic - New Light on the New
Age," Family Circle, Feb. 23, 1993, p. 99. According to Clark and
Gallo, an estimated 3,000 people are enrolled in Knight's school, with as many as 1,500
living in the Tacoma area. Five years later she is still going strong.

What do you get when you combine bits of quantum physics, brain science
and the channeled prophecies of a 35,000 year old god/warrior named Ramtha?
The film, What the #$*! Do We Know?, is a fantasy docudrama cult hit that
has found national distribution and is playing to full houses across the
country.

The film is the latest effort by religious, mystical, and New Age gurus
such as Deepak Chopra [Deepak Chopra is
investigated in Vol 6 #2 of SKEPTIC magazine.] to cloak their views
in the mantle of science. Physicist Victor Stenger coined the term “Quantum
metaphysics” where “today’s cosmic mind has been repackaged by an appeal to
twentieth century science for its authority.” The cosmic mind in this case
is that of JZ Knight, who claims to channel a 35,000-year old god/warrior
named Ramtha. Because Ramtha instructed her to demand a packet of gold from
all who seek his wisdom, she has reaped millions over the past quarter
century. The films’ producers, writers, directors, and a number of the stars
are members of her Ramtha School of Enlightenment in Washington.

Quantum physics and neuroscience are complex and controversial topics.
The film discusses them in twenty-second sound bites mixed with cutting edge
graphics. The effect is a blend of riveted attention and confusion that puts
the critical mind to sleep, softening up the viewer to ideas that begin with
human potential and end with walking on water.

The film opens with writer Fred Alan Wolfe imploring us to “Get into the
mystery!” We just have to decide “How far down the rabbit hole do we want to
go?” The central premise of the film is that there is no objective reality.
The world is nothing more than observer effects. Amit Goswami, an emeritus
professor of physics from the University of Oregon, states: “The material
world around us is nothing but possible movements of consciousness. I am
choosing moment by moment my experience. Heisenberg said atoms are not
things, only tendencies.” Other speakers describe matter as “like a thought,
concentrated bits of information.”

With a bit of candor Wolfe states that quantum physics is “subject to a
range of debatable hypotheses.” At the center of the debate is how to
interpret the fact that at the subatomic level the act of observing
electrons has an effect on their properties. Some forms of measurement pick
up wave-like effects while others pick up particle effects. If the form of
observation has such an effect on reality can we say there is an objective
reality at all? In the famous debates between Einstein and Niels Bohr over
the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum effects, Einstein was never won
over to the notion of the absence of objective reality, stating: “I think
that a particle must have a separate reality independent of the measurement.
That is, an electron has spin, location and so forth even when it is not
being measured. I like to think the moon is still there even if I am not
looking at it looking at it.”

The idea that consciousness creates reality is at the core of most
religions. Objective reality is the unfolding of the spiritual world on the
plane of physical existence. In the past it was consciousness of god or gods
doing their work on earth in a rich variety of religious mythology. In New
Age interpretations you are the god of your own individual world.

Additional bits and pieces of quantum theory are presented in the film,
including: superposition theories, direction of time, Boehm’s implicate
order, information theory, and others. Most viewers have no time, let alone
the science background knowledge, to evaluate the validity of such claims.
Quantum theory is used to punctuate religious and political sound bites,
such as this one from psychologist Jeffrey Satinover: “Materialism strips
people of responsibility, quantum physics puts it squarely in your lap.”

Along with talking heads and computer graphics is a loose drama of a
woman in the midst of depression played by actress Marlee Matlin. She’s a
photographer who hates herself, gains no pleasure from the world, and seems
to be having trouble with her medications.

A chiropractor named Joe Dispenza diagnoses her problems with Ramtha’s
version of neuroscience. Dispenza notes that in brain imaging parts of the
visual cortex light up during both mental imagery tasks and visual
perception. From this he draws the absurd conclusion that we don’t know the
difference between what is real and what we imagine. Many different mental
functions share cortical areas to carry out the complexity of their tasks.
Thought and speech both utilize language areas of the brain. Visions during
dreaming that use the visual cortex get reality tested upon waking. There
are people who have great difficulty seeing the difference between the real
and the imagined. They are suffering from psychotic disorders, such as
schizophrenia, or they have ingested large amounts of drugs or alcohol. If
Dispenza is right that we live in an imagined world not grounded in reality,
testing his theory on your drive home would lead to a carnage of competing
versions of where the road begins and ends.

Matlin’s depression raises problems with the New Age myth that the mind
is a like a big department store where we are free to choose any thought or
feeling we want. Why would we choose to be depressed? Why don’t we just snap
out of it and think happier thoughts?

A major finding of neuroscience is that the conscious “free” mind arises
out of powerful unconscious processes. Joseph Ledoux at New York University
has shown that the limbic system produces a fear response before we are even
aware of seeing the frightful image, like a snake in the grass. Patterns of
emotional and cognitive responses to the world are laid down in a complex
dialectic of inherited biology, early childhood experiences, and current
functioning in the world. How this all produces consciousness is one of the
most challenging questions facing brain scientists. The late Francis Crick
spent thirty years on the question.

Dispenza tells us that the answer is quite simple. Since we can’t stop
feeling and thinking, and an addiction is “something we cannot stop,” then
bad thoughts are just a problem of addiction. All we need is Ramtha’s
recovery program.

Noted cellular researcher Candice Pert appears for a valuable discussion
of hormones, peptides, and neurotransmitters in the brain. Since discovering
opiate receptors she has since drifted into New Age nonsense. If cells are
over stimulated by neurotransmitters they adjust though a process called
down regulation. Dispenza tells us that this is the cause of lifelong
problems, since the down regulation is passed on in cell division. In a
forum on the film this past spring, I had to point out to him that brain
cells, unlike other cells in the body, do not divide. [Note: John Renish has
pointed out that Olmstead is wrong about brain cells not dividing. Since
1997 there has been evidence that brain cells do divide.*
"The discovery of life-long neurogenesis in humans has redefined our
understanding of the brain and spinal cord."*]

Addictive processes and habits of thought and feeling are both carried
out by chemical signaling between neurons. The major difference is that in addiction
reward circuits in the brain are hijacked and distorted by rapid elevation
of chemicals such as dopamine and endorphins due to drugs injected into the
body. There is growing evidence that genes play a role in determining a
person’s vulnerability to addiction.

Matlin lifts out of her depression after many drinks and a romantic
encounter at a Polish wedding­-perhaps the mind really is influenced by the
body and the power of interpersonal relations. During her hangover the next
morning she is lifted into a state of bliss when reminded of the power of
thought as shown by the work of Masaru Emoto.

Emoto claims to have proven that thoughts are so powerful they can change
the structure of water. His “experiments” consist of taping written words to
glasses of water. The next day beautiful crystals appear on jars with words
like “love.” We are not told that these are actually ice crystals. In his
book, Messages from Water, Emoto claims that water can understand every
language in the world, and all their emotional and metaphoric nuances, by
picking up on the linguistic vibrations. Water tells us that classical music
is good and heavy metal is bad. Water can educate us as to whether religious
and political figures are good or bad people. Water is so perceptive that,
when played a recording of Elvis singing “Heartbreak Hotel,” the water
crystal split into two crystals in sympathy.

Another “proof” of the power of thought presented in the film is the
so-called “Maharishi
Effect.” In 1993, 4,000 meditators gathered in Washington, D.C. under
the direction of physicist John Hagelin. Hagelin predicted in advance that
the meditations would drive down the violent crime rate in the city by 25
percent that summer. Despite the fact that the murder rate actually rose,
Hagelin announced a year later that his analysis proved that the violent
crime rate fell just as he had predicted. In his recent book he states that
the meditators “function essentially as a ‘washing machine’ for the entire
society.”

As with Emoto’s work, there has been no replication by other scientists,
no control groups, and no publications in reputable peer reviewed scientific
journals to confirm the Maharishi Effect.

The end of the film meanders into speculation about god. Knight tells us
that Ramtha has arrived to free you from the gods who determine good and
evil and punish you in the process. You can have it anyway you want. You are
god. You can return to those wonderful days of childhood when the world
really seemed centered around you and was created by your fantasies.

In April of this year I invited one of the film’s directors, William
Arntz, along with one of his science consultants, Joe Dispenza, to Portland
State University. To put the question of free will and responsibility to the
test I put up a photo of a child with Downs Syndrome. I asked if this child
was free to create any reality he wanted. Was this child responsible for his
condition, I queried? Arnzt responded that in fact he is to blame for his
disorder--he is paying for transgressions in a previous life. This is the
same doctrine of reincarnation and karma that
justified the caste system in India. The same logic blames the patient for
their cancer.

What begins as promises of freedom of thought soon evolves into demands
for correct thought and behavior. As Satinover says in the film: “People ought
to be instructed to make different choices.” The source of the correct ideas
is the prophet. The promised payoff for adherence to the dogma is freedom
from the fears of death, disease, and misery. The fact that these are deep
fears that we are all vulnerable to, sets the stage for rampant exploitation
and abuse by charlatans and cults. As JZ Knight asks, “Have you ever
stopped for a moment to look at yourself through the eyes of the ultimate
observer?”

About the reviewer: John Olmsted MA, Med. is an adjunct instructor
in psychology at Portland State University in Portland Oregon where he
teaches a course in paranormal psychology. He is mental health therapist
specializing in issues of learning, attention and the brain.
ctandjo@hotmail.com

Another reviewer, Johann Hari, had this to say about
What the Bleep
Do We Know?:

The global understanding of science is being slowly contaminated.

If you want an example of this new pseudo-science, check out the dismal,
brain-rotting new movie What the Bleep Do We Know? which arrives fresh from
sleeper-success in the States. Marlee Matlin plays a woman who is having a
strange day; she meets a boy who is capable of bizarre physical tricks, and
he asks her, 'How far down the rabbit-hole do you want to go?'

The film claims to be a serious study of the philosophical implications
of quantum physics, and Matlin's story is intercut with interviews from
people who seem to be scientists. At first, they simply point out some of
the extraordinary things that have emerged from the study of matter at a
quantum (sub-molecular) level. But gradually the film begins to stir in
unscientific (and absurd) extrapolations from quantum physics. The movie's
'scientists' begin to claim that discoveries in quantum physics provide
proof for a whole range of fantastical New Age claims. They say you can walk
on water if only 'you believe it with every fibre of your being'.

The real scientist Richard Dawkins summarises the film's assumptions:
'Quantum physics is deeply mysterious and incomprehensible. Eastern
spirituality is deeply mysterious and incomprehensible. Therefore they must
be saying the same thing.' Sadly, Dawkins' reaction is an exception; many
newspapers have lauded the film as a 'brilliant scientific study'.

Okay, so it's a dumb movie, you might think, but what harm does it do? On
its own, very little. But What the Bleep ... bears all the hallmarks of the
new pseudo-sciences. One typical tactic is to take a gap in scientific
evidence and fill it with faith-based claims. For example, geologists have
discovered a gap in the fossil record which makes it hard to explain how
evolution worked at certain periods. The neo-creationists seize on this and
claim it as 'proof' that evolution didn't happen at all. (Incredibly, over
40 per cent of Americans believe them). The New Agers do the same with the
gaps in quantum physics.